“The parlor,” she said so quietly he had to strain to hear her. “But beware. She’s in no mood for your antics today.”
“My antics?”
“Yes. Her nieces have just arrived, and she’s in high spirits. I doubt very much she wants you to spoil her jovial mood.”
“So, you don’t wish me to bother your mistress?”
“No, I do not.”
“What a little traitor you are,” he said, glowering at her. “You’re a right loyalist when it comes to that Englishwoman.”
“She pays me far too much money not to be,” Rose said quietly as she continued walking, heading to do Lady Belle’s bidding no doubt.
Graham smirked, unable to argue with that, even though he knew it wasn’t the only reason Rose was loyal to Belle. In truth, everyone for twenty miles liked the unorthodox old woman. Any person who could disparage the King of England earned their trust, and while her popularity irked Graham, he couldn’t deny it. If she didn’t hold the ownership of Lismore Hall over his head, he wouldn’t be able to find a single fault with her.
Stalking into the parlor, he found Lady Belle seated behind a large desk with her loyal butler, Andrews, standing beside her.
“Ah, MacKinnon,” she said, scanning a paper in her hand. “You’re punctual this evening.”
“Did you send her out into the garden dressed in nothing but a night rail?”
“Send who into the garden?”
“Your niece, Hope Sharpe.”
Genuine surprise lit the old woman's face as she handed the paper back to Andrews.
“That'll be just fine,” she said to the butler, who bowed and then left. She motioned to Graham. “Now tell me, you met Hope already?”
“You mean you didn't plant her in the garden for me to ‘accidentally’ find? Knowing full well I always enter the grounds from the east door.”
“I didn't know you enter from the east door.”
He rolled his eyes.
“The hives are outside the east door. Of course I always come in from there.”
“Am I supposed to remember every detail concerning your honey enterprise?”
“It's on your own grounds. How can you not know about it?”
Belle waved her hand dismissively.
“I've far too many concerns to remember them all. And as radical as I may have been in my life, sending my innocent niece out in her undergarments to entice a foul-mouthed highlander is not on my to-do list.” She paused for a moment; her mouth pursed together. “Did she seem impressed by you?”
“I knew it,” he said, pointing at her. “You put her in the green room to agitate me.”
“I did no such thing,” she denied. “Aside from my room, the green room is the largest, and with the early summer flowers in bloom I thought she’d appreciate it the most. Besides, she is the oldest and deserves more space.”
“You're lying.”
“I've no intention of humoring your foul mood today, MacKinnon,” she said, rising. “Why even come if you're going to be all brooding and miserable?”
“I came because you and my uncle conspire against me,” he said, taking a seat as he dropped his body loudly into a leather club chair. He frowned, looking down at the seat. “This is uncomfortable. Where did it come from?”
“London, and it's not uncomfortable, it’s fashionable,” she said, coming around slowly with her cane to face him. “What did your uncle wish to send you for?”
“He'll be holding a welcome ball for your nieces by week’s end,” he said suspiciously. “No doubt an attempt to undermine me and that unsuspecting lass of yours.”
